A jar that holds your deepest secrets and fears. A fireman confronts his past while trying to save a group of children who have fallen through thin ice. A preacher’s daughter goes to fantastic and desperate lengths to write a book like Mark Twain. A man who cures people’s pain and sadness through laughter finds his greatest challenge in a little boy. In this debut collection by Paul G. Tremblay, there are twenty stories following the chronological arc of a human life. Twenty stories about the young and old, and everyone in-between.

“Paul Tremblay is one of the better short-story writers working today. His eye is both compassionate and merciless–a rare combination–and he has a genuine gift for language. He deserves all the acclaim he has received and much, much, more…” Poppy Z. Brite, author of Liquor and Prime

“(His) wryly told short stories are more Chuck Palahniuk than best-selling boogey man Koontz…Using horror the way Kurt Vonnegut used science fiction, Tremblay’s work is deadpan, ironic, sometimes twisted, even hip.” BOSTON PHOENIX